Rascoe tallied more than a dozen violations, including dirty floors throughout the restaurant, a broken walk-in cooler, accumulation of grease on equipment and blood from a beef tray leaking onto other food.

Many of the violations were "critical," especially the lack of refrigeration to store food at proper temperatures, she said.

Rascoe said she inspects each of the city's roughly 500 food-service establishments - including school cafeterias - at least once a year.

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Of those, Rascoe said about two or three inspections a year result in a restaurant's ordered closure.

A restaurant can fail an inspection but remain open. An accumulation of critical violations, however, results in the restaurant's closure, Rascoe said.

That means "it's really bad," she said.

Rascoe said she plans to check on the progress at Chinatown Express on Friday.

"If I find one critical item, they're not reopening," she said. "It's up to them how quick they can get it together."

The restaurant's owner could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.